Rather, the Widener freshman's build tends to lend credence to the opinion that he might be better suited to play safety or maybe even outside linebacker. But defensive end? At less than two bills? No way.

When starting defensive end Chad Gravinese had to leave Saturday's Division III tournament second-round game against Salisbury and the Sea Gulls' sixth-ranked rushing offense that averaged 287.18 yards per game, Sunnerville trotted onto the field to take the senior 240-pounder's spot, and he admitted that he knew he'd be an easy target.

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Sunnerville figured correctly. Salisbury tried to run at him, around him and through him, but Sunnerville came through as the headliner of a dominant day for the Pride's defense in Widener's comfortable 28-7 win over the Sea Gulls at Leslie C. Quick Jr. Stadium. The Pride's quarterfinal-round game will be played at Mount Union, which routed Johns Hopkins, 55-13.

"I wasn't planning on playing as much until (Gravinese) went down," Sunnerville said. "When he went down, (the coaches) told me I needed to step up, so I figured, 'all right, let's go,' because they're going to be running at me. It's my chance to step up and make plays."

Safe to say that Sunnerville held up his end of the bargain. The lanky rookie picked a great time for his breakout game, one that featured game-bests in tackles (15), tackles for loss (four) and sacks (three). Oh, and for good measure, he also forced a fumble and recovered it as part of a three-takeaway day for the No. 9 Pride, who kept the goose egg in the loss column intact as they moved to 11-0. Not too shabby for a guy who came into the game with 16 career tackles, four for loss.

Those numbers shined the brightest, but Widener's entire defense had a hand in corralling the Sea Gulls' potent ground game. Salisbury averaged a measly 2.1 yards per carry on 57 rushes, a number that only jumps to 3.51 yards per carry if sacks are excised. On a day when the usually high-flying Pride offense stagnated early, the defense served notice that Widener is no one-trick pony. In its seven first-half drives, Salisbury turned the ball over on downs twice, lost a pair of fumbles, punted twice and had a field goal blocked.

While Sunnerville was the stat stuffer, outside linebacker Jamal Dorsey also figured in prominently with a sack, fumble recovery and field goal block. John DiBiase, Darius Johnson, Shakore Philip and Penn Wood All-Delco Tyler Glover also got in on the sack party, while Nick Rodriguez notched a spectacular interception on a deep ball. But the most impressive part was how the Pride's defense stiffened on the few occasions when the Sea Gulls crossed into Widener territory. Salisbury came away with points on one of its four trips past the Pride's 40-yard line, and that didn't come until the game was well out of hand. Dorsey acknowledged that setting the tone early had a lasting impact for the Widener defense, one that is routinely pushed out of the limelight in favor of the offense.

"It was big," Dorsey said. "What we want to do on defense is get the offense the ball back. We know they can score whenever ... and if we can get them the ball back, we know they can score points. We just need to hold them on the defense. ... We don't really care as a defense what people think. We know what we can do. If they want to think our offense just carries us the whole time, it's whatever. As long as we keep winning and we keep pushing through, it doesn't matter to me. We're in the Elite Eight. That's all that matters."

The defensive effort struck particularly close to home for Widener coach Isaac Collins. A defensive coordinator at The Citadel with previous stints at Delaware and Lehigh before taking the reins of the Pride's program, Collins has had his fair share of great defenses, but even he was a bit taken aback by his defense's stifling outing.

"I told them in the locker room, (in) 18 years of coaching, they executed that gameplan better than anyone that I've ever coached," Collins said. "We've had some pretty good defenses back in the Lehigh days, defending Wofford and some of those plays, (but) these guys came out ... and they played assignment football. I was so proud. Even on a couple of the long runs (Salisbury) got, it was just a guy missing, but they got back in the next play and got back after it."

The Pride's heralded offense didn't start the day off with its usual gusto against Salisbury, ranked ninth nationally in scoring defense. Quarterback Chris Haupt was 11-for-19 for 90 yards and an interception in the first half, and the Pride had to rely on a 26-yard reverse to Chester All-Delco Anthony Davis and a 1-yard plunge from Terrant Morrison to stake themselves to a 14-0 halftime lead. But the Sea Gulls eventually broke, as Davis exploited man coverage for an 82-yard touchdown on a post. The electrifying wideout finished with 11 catches for a career-best 201 yards and two rushes for 32 yards and those two scores.

"We were just baiting their defense with the little stuff," Davis said. "Our coaches game-planned it all week and we knew we were going to hit them over the top at one point, so we just had to be ready."